The present invention relates to a fire hydrant security device that will prevent or at least alert authorities to unauthorized discharge of water or other fluids from a hydrant such as are typically installed in municipal water distribution systems for providing ready access to a source of water under pressure for fire departments and street cleaning and the like.
In some jurisdictions, it has been conventional to secure fire hydrants or other water discharge outlets against unauthorized use. These jurisdictions have generally been limited to large urban areas. Recently, however, it has become apparent to even small jurisdictions having authority over municipal water distribution systems that security must be provided for water outlets such as hydrants or nozzles that are typically not subject to supervision by police or other security personnel. This is due in large part to increases in vandalism by unsupervised youth as well as the danger of terrorist attacks, including, for example, flooding of an area such as an underground garage or even poisoning of a water system.
In the past, in constructing security devices for fluid outlets, ease-of-use and a high level of security have often competed and have led to compromises in the design of the devices. For fire departments, it is highly desirable that the device be easily removed when it is necessary to obtain water to quench a fire in a building. For a municipal water system, it is highly desirable that a high level of security be achieved so that not only casual pranksters but determined attackers are discouraged and prevented from the illegal use of hydrant and the like. Previous attempts to produce a device that adequately addresses both the access and security needs have failed to produce a cost-effective solution. The present invention provides a novel cost-effective solution.
The present invention provides a hydrant locking device to be used in conjunction with a fire hydrant having locking nuts which includes, a base arm having a first base arm portion and a second base arm portion. A top arm extends upwardly from the base arm and includes a top arm cap for covering at least one of the locking nuts. The first base arm portion is detachably secured to the second base arm portion, wherein the base arm and the top arm are secured to the fire hydrant when the first base arm portion is secured to the second base arm portion.